The Cast Of Blue Jasmine Discusses Film In New Press Kit, New Alec Baldwin Interview

Sony Pictures Classics has released a new Blue Jasmine Press Kit, featuring quotes from any of the cast, plenty of details about the film. The 30 page document has been sent out to press who are reviewing the film, and features plenty of spoilers – so here are the key bits with no spoilers. We also have a new quote from Alec Baldwin.

(We will link to the full press kit at the end of the article for those who don’t mind being spoiled)

From the press kit:

Woody Allen on Cate Blanchett

Cate is one of the great actresses of the world. She just has that thing. There’s a tremendous amount of depth there. There’s no way to quantify it. You can get other actresses who are very good and they’ll be playing frustration and despair and they’ll weep the way Cate does, but for some reason she projects on the screen a tremendous depth that sucks you in. You just feel how deep she’s going and that’s her gift.

Allen on Sally Hawkins

She’s a fabulous actress. She’s real all the time; she’s never actressy.

Hawkins on Allen

Woody doesn’t want to deal with chit chat. He just wants you to turn up and for your characterto be fully formed and ready to work.

Hawkins on Blanchett

Cate has no ego. She just wants to investigate life, create incredibly rich layers, and make the work as good as it possibly can be. I believed every single moment of her as Jasmine and being so close to it, just saw this woman completely trapped and lost and alone. It was a highly tuned performance—it’s like the strings on a guitar being tightened, tightened, tightened, until she snapped. I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been to take that character home with you at night.

Blanchett on Hawkins

Sally’s got the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met. I clung to her like a life raft.

Allen on Alec Baldwin

Alec is the perfect guy to play Hal, because he’s got everything going for him. He’s good looking, he’s a tremendously talented dramatic actor, and yet if you need somebody to be funny, he can be funny.

Allen on Peter Sarsgaard

Peter projects intelligence and literacy, as well as a sweetness that makes him a guy you root for Jasmine to wind up with, somebody who would come into her life and under other circumstances really save her.

Allen on Michael Stuhlbarg

Michael is a very natural actor which I like. It never looks like he is acting which is the best kind of acting. He also can be funny and serious with great effectiveness.

Allen on Bobby Cannavale

Bobby can do all kinds of things, but he’s very good at playing this kind of character, which is his natural persona. He just seemed a natural for the part, plus he has a built-in likability.

Allen on Andrew Dice Clay

I always thought Andrew could be a wonderful actor in the right circumstances. He’s a great type and he’s got a wonderful quality. He’s a guy who not only does the written lines you give him but he builds the character himself. He adds things, never in a pushy way, but in a creative way.

Allen on Louis CK

Louis is very funny and that accounts for the success he’s having as a comedian, but he’s also got another dimension to him where he’s not just a guy who writes or buys a million jokes and stands up and just shoots them off. He’s got a depth or pathos about him and that makes him very sympathetic.

Meanwhile RTE has new quotes from Alec Baldwin

Woody is my favourite writer in the movie business. So I did To Rome With Love, which was more kind of a lighter comedy. There was some farce to that. He asked me to do this film [Blue Jasmine] and I was elated. I was so happy he asked because I love to work with him. This is more of a drama.

Baldwin on Blanchett

Cate Blanchett is the lead. She is truly one of the five greatest actresses in the movies of her generation. She is so talented and just a lovely professional woman. And it was just a thrill to be able to do scenes with her because I hadn’t done those kinds of heavy scenes in quite a while.

We are getting lots more information on ‘Blue Jasmine‘ now, and we with the release date only next month, we will be starting to hide certain details behind spoilers.